Sophie Handford
Sophie Handford is a 21-year-old Councillor, activist from Kāpiti, New Zealand. Since a young age, Sophie has held the environment closely and always felt a strong connection to and need to protect this one planet we share. She founded School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa NZ and went on to coordinate the movement which mobilised 170,000 people across the country in September of 2019, united for climate justice. She then ran for Council at the age of 18 and was elected as one of Aotearoa’s youngest Councillors, now holding the Climate & Youth portfolios on the Kāpiti Coast District Council. She is also studying part time at Victoria University of Wellington, doing a Bachelor of Communications, Majoring in Political Comms. Having represented NZ through APEC Voices of the Future and Ship for World Youth, Sophie is committed to seeing us as communities and as a country lead our world to a better future for the next generation.